Classic Shell: Forum

Tested on two computers - Win7 Ult x64 and Win7 Ult x86 - after switching from Basic theme to Aero Glass (the first time) Start Menu stays in Basic.
Actually, seems to happen only when I switch from "Windows 7 Basic" to Aero "Windows 7". If I switch to any other glass theme from Basic, seems to work fine. Issues occur specifically with "Windows 7" theme.

I Also have 7+ Taskbar Tweaker on both computers. Myabe this has something to do with it.

I don't remember all the details, but I think it chooses the default skin based on the current theme only the first time. After that it sticks to the selected skin. Particularly if you changed some skin settings.

I'm afraid I'm not fully sure what that means. But the problem keeps happening over and over as I switch from Basic to Aero and back. Each time, the same problem. Definitely haven't had this problem with CS 3.6.7.

Well, then maybe I didn't understand the problem
Please list all the steps you are going through.

I'll see if I can make a video. Stay tuned please.

Done. The video is only 3 megabytes, so I dont think uploading it to YouTube is necessary. Attaching to the post. This happens even on my freshly formatted laptop.

Urgh... Didn't manage to attach the file to my post, here is the video file:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/09e1l8

Pardon me for the inconvenience.

Is the skin supposed to automatically change when the Windows theme changes? Or depending on the current Windows theme, whichever *style* the user sets after changing the theme, the menu will switch the skin to match the Windows theme? I always thought it was the latter.

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Links to some general topics:

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I am a Windows enthusiast and did Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

No idea, but it changed fine along with the theme using Classic Shell 3.6.7. Definitely haven't had this issue before.

AND it changes fine if I switch to any other Aero theme. It's only "Windows 7" theme that has that problem.

Changing the skin automatically was never supported. It may have worked in some cases, like if you never opened the settings dialog.
The supported way is to go to the skin settings and press the Reset Skin button. Then it will pick the default skin for the current Windows theme.

I don't know what you mean by "changes fine if I switch to any other Aero theme". There are no pre-defined skins for multiple Aero themes.

I mean that if I switch from Basic to "Architecture" - works. From Basic to "Characters" - works. From Basic to "Landscapes", "Nature", "Scenes", or any other theme - works. Only switching from Basic to "Windows 7" theme doesn't work. Doesn't that indicate a bug? Especially considering that switching from "Basic" to Aero Glass "Windows 7" works with Classic Shell 3.6.7, but not 3.9.0? It's a regression.

Was it ever supported or not, but how come it doesn't work with only one theme?



Here is a little more insight:

I took aero.theme and changed only one number:

[VisualStyles]
Path=%ResourceDir%\Themes\Aero\Aero.msstyles
ColorStyle=NormalColor
Size=NormalSize
ColorizationColor=0x6B74B8FC
Transparency=1

to

[VisualStyles]
Path=%ResourceDir%\Themes\Aero\Aero.msstyles
ColorStyle=NormalColor
Size=NormalSize
ColorizationColor=0x7B74B8FC
Transparency=1

0x6B74B8FC to 0x7B74B8FC

thus changing the transparency color a little bit. And now Classic Shell switches to transparent Start Menu just fine. From the looks of it, it seems that Classic Shell 3.9.0 somehow doesn't recognize the default transparent color of the theme, but change it in any way, and Classic Shell recognizes the change from Basic to Aero Glass.

I see. So the skin doesn't actually change. It is always the Aero skin. It is just that the color of the skin changes (or doesn't change in your case). Is that correct?

If I switch to any other transparent theme - color and transparency change accordingly. If I switch to "Windows 7" theme, nothing changes, not even color. It is like Classic Shell does not detect a change at all.

Right. There is an optimization to not reload the skin if the color doesn't change. Looks like the main Aero and Basic report the same color, that's why the change is not detected.

I can understand that, although how come it worked with Classic Shell 3.6.7? And I'm pretty sure it did, because I used to switch between Basic and Aero a lot before.

Personally, I don't have an issue with this anymore as I have adjusted Aero theme to have a slightly different color, I'm asking only because I'm curious.

Version 3.6.7 didn't have this optimization. It reloaded the skin every time you open the menu.
Version 3.9.0 saves about 100-200ms by not loading the skin every time. But there is a bug. That's why it is beta.

I see. All my questions are answered now, thank you very much. Last one - are you planning to work around that issue in future builds?

Yes, I make a habit of fixing the bugs.

Another thing I have noticed: my unattended Windows installation copies Aero theme with modified colors to work around the bug, and it works when I switch to Aero Glass theme manually. However when Windows 7 detects my video card and automatically switches to Aero Glass, Classic Start Menu *still* remains in Basic despite the modified theme.

I don't know if this is one and the same bug or not, but I found it strange. I thought when Windows 7 detects a compatible hardware, it just switches to Aero Glass theme, as when I do it manually. But it looks like it's doing something else, otherwise my workaround would have worked.

EDIT:

Ah, I think I get it now. It probably just enables transparency without switching the theme directly.